Abbott Labs sets a brisk earnings pace by beating income forecasts

By Russ Britt

(Editor’s note: Corrects company’s full-year earnings projection.)

Kicking off the earnings season for health-care companies, Abbott Laboratories set a brisk pace Wednesday as the medical conglomerate reported better-than-expected third-quarter earnings and offered a better-than-expected full-year forecast.

The report was enough to allow Abbott
/quotes/zigman/216393/quotes/nls/abtABT to outpace even the general rally, as shares of the company jumped nearly 7% at one point. Abbott was up more than 6% in recent action to $35.78.

Abbott Laboratories

The company said net income was $966 million, or 49 cents a share, compared with $1.9 billion, or 21 cents a share, for the same period a year ago. Last year’s results included the operations of AbbVie Inc.
/quotes/zigman/13067932/quotes/nls/abbvABBV, which was split off in December.

Adjusted earnings of 55 cents a share came in three cents ahead of estimates from analysts polled by FactSet. Sales of $5.37 billion were slightly below estimates of $5.4 billion.

While Abbott said it was reiterating its full-year earnings prediction of $1.98 to $2.04 a share, its forecast for continuing GAAP earnings was $1.46 to $1.52. According to FactSet, that’s up from the company’s July prediction of $1.39 to $1.45 a share.

Abbott saw the greatest quarterly growth in its diagnostics division, with sales up 8% over last year’s quarter, while its nutritional and medical device operations tacked on 2% more sales. The company’s pharmaceutical division lost some ground, dropping sales by nearly 3%.

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